The Pipeline: Going Back To The Fun Of Destroy All Humans

Nordic Games resurrects one of THQ's classics.

Between the late '90s and mid '00s, THQ managed to produce many titles that really made gaming awesome; WCW/nWo Revenge, Red Faction, WWF No Mercy and Saints Row are some of the titles that stick out in my mind. But like a lot of developers that made it big during the gaming boom of the early '00s, they produced a lot of crap titles that overshadowed their earlier work and made the company look like a joke. Nordic Games eventually bought them out in 2013 and shut the doors on the company, but not permanently.

THQ Nordic

Earlier this year, there were rumors that the division now known as THQ Nordic was going to re-release one of the company's most popular titles: Destroy All Humans! Well, this happened to be one of the few gaming rumors that came true, as earlier this month we were treated to a PS4 version of the iconic game. If you haven't had a chance to play it, the story revolves around an alien called Crypto 137, who drops down to earth to rescue Crypto 136, who crashed to earth and was captured. It's up to you, using various tools and just plain ol' shooting and fear, to find the previous clone of yourself, even if it means killing everything in your path.

THQ Nordic

As an alien, you get an impressive set of skills, including a rocket to float, mind reading, telekinesis and electrocution. You'll also have access to your flying saucer (which will allow you to do damage at a much more alarming level) and be able to make yourself look like a human down the road, so you can sneak around and gather information (and brains) without having a firefight on your hands. Every level is going to have you dealing with the military, nervous farm folk, men in black suits, nutjobs, average citizens who are paranoid as hell and a plethora of 1950s-type people who don't know what to make of a little grey alien.

THQ Nordic

The conversion of Destroy All Humans! over to PS4 feels seamless. In fact, based off my own muscle memory from the game, it actually handles smoother than it used to. One of the issues I used to have with it on PS2 was you'd often hit a patch of area the game wasn't ready for you to visit, and it would start to slow down. Clearly, that's been remedied two generations later. What hasn't been touched up is the graphics, and that's clear from the moment gameplay kicks in. Sure, some of the textures have been cleaned up, and it appears like the game got an upgrade, but don't be fooled—comparing the games side-by-side online shows they took a superficial polish to some of the areas that looked like junk and put a brighter glow to it, but nothing about the design suggests they gave the game a full overhaul. You're getting the same game you did before a decade ago; it's just been cleaned up a little.

THQ Nordic

If you're into nostalgia and want to beat the game all over again, this is well worth the price, especially since it's clear in this day and age that backward compatibility is going to be phased out over time. Shy of plugging in your PS2 again, this is a nice alternative. If you've never played this before, give it a shot. Destroy All Humans! is very self-aware, not in the sense that it knows its a game, but in the sense that it knows how ridiculous it was living in the '50s and how we all feared being invaded by aliens after the Roswell incident went global. A lot of the humor still holds up, and the gameplay is still challenging. But do keep in mind that it is still a repackaged game from 2005, so much like you treat games from the NES or PS1, be kind when looking at it.